


not an intervention

by superpig909



Category: High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (TV)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, mentions of rini, set after winter break, there's more to life than school
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-03
Updated: 2020-03-03
Packaged: 2021-02-23 03:54:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,649
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23005324
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/superpig909/pseuds/superpig909
Summary: Red isn’t what you’d call smart. Sure, he passes all his classes but he’s no genius. He’s average, sometimes a little below average. But it’s high school and he can’t help but feel stupid. Ricky doesn’t even have to study and he gets good grades. And Ashlyn, well. Let’s just say his girlfriend is incredible.Big Red is insecure about his grades and his friends remind him what really matters.
Relationships: Big Red & Ricky Bowen (HSM: The Series), Big Red/Ashlyn Caswell
Comments: 3
Kudos: 29





	not an intervention

**Author's Note:**

> this is kinda inspired by a Tumblr post I saw, enjoy :)

Big Red let out a defeated sigh. A D on his English essay. Not a great start for a Monday. Not his worst grade, but definitely not what he needed. He could still pass the class as long as he did better on the next one. Whatever. It doesn’t matter. He flipped his paper over.

“Not bad,” Ricky mumbled from the seat next to his. Big Red glanced over at his friend. Unable to help himself, he peered at the red ink in the upper corner. B plus. A flash of embarrassment came over him. Ricky wrote his whole paper the night before it was due. Red spent a whole week on his. He knew he shouldn’t be jealous, it was just school. He was good at other things, right?

He couldn’t shake this feeling. It was wrong to be this frustrated! Ricky got a good grade. He should be happy for his best friend, shouldn’t he? Does this make him a bad friend? A bad person? Is he just bad at everything now? Woah. Stop. One bad grade doesn’t mean he’s bad at _everything_.

“You okay?” Ricky asked, forcing Big Red out of his own head.

“Yeah,” he replied. Ricky didn’t look convinced, but he didn’t press him to talk. They never really spoke about their grades, despite being in school together their whole lives. But Big Red knew. Ricky didn’t even have to study and he was above average. Meanwhile, Big Red could spend hours reviewing and would probably barely get a C, maybe better if he was really lucky. Which was fine! Right?

He knew he wasn’t a genius. Teachers always told him to apply himself more. Every report card said he was full of potential! But he did apply himself. It was just hard for him to focus on the words on the page. He always got distracted and tests made him super nervous. He’s tried everything. Even meditation! But nothing could magically make him good at school. He was good at skateboarding and video games but that couldn’t get him into college. His first attempt at the SATs was a complete joke. How anyone could possibly finish the whole test in that amount of time was beyond him.

“Dude, what are you doing? The bell just rang for lunch,” Ricky was standing at the door, snapping him out of his thoughts again. Guess he didn’t hear the bell. Big Red stuffed the essay into his backpack and trailed after his friend.

\----

After dinner that night, Red retreated to his room, ready to just play video games with his friends online. The rest of the day had been alright, though rehearsal could have been better. Natalie was MIA so Miss Jenn asked him to read the stage directions again. He could have sworn everyone groaned. It was humiliating. At least this time he didn’t read out the punctuation marks.

Just then, his phone started to vibrate. A Facetime call from _Ash <3_. Mood instantly lifted.

“Hey, Ash!”

“Hey!” And just like that things were looking up. Big Red was laughing and listening to his girlfriend complain about EJ. She always made the weirdest things sound like adventures. For the first time since English class, he felt light. He told her about the stupid jokes his dad said at dinner. Even though he pretended to be annoyed, both he and Ashlyn loved his dad’s jokes. As she was telling him about the new song she was working on, she suddenly stopped.

“Oh, hey, did you get back that English essay yet? I know you were stressed out about it.” It was an innocent question and Red knew it was probably meant to be supportive. Ashlyn kind of knew about his struggle with school. He didn’t tell her everything, though, for reasons he was ashamed to think about. She was _Ashlyn Caswell_ , co-captain of the robotics team, in the top ten of her class, the person everyone went to if they needed help with homework. She was brilliant without even trying but she _did_ try so she was even more brilliant. She was incredible. And Red? Well, Red was him. 

“Yeah, it was fine.” He shrugged, trying to look nonchalant but desperate to end this particular topic.

“Come on, I’m sure it was more than fine! You worked so hard on it!” 

“Haha, yeah… Sorry, Ash, but I have to go, Ricky’s having some sort of crisis.” The lies kept coming. She looked worried, causing a pang of guilt in Red’s chest.

“Of course, tell him I hope everything’s okay!”

“Will do, thanks, bye!” Big Red hung up and sighed. He was so frustrated. And now he felt guilty too. Great.

Ashlyn had offered to help him with his essay last week when she saw how stressed out he was with it. But Red had refused, saying he was fine and he was just in his own head. And he was. But more about what his girlfriend would think of his work than about his own ability. It was stupid to think she’d judge him but he couldn’t help himself. What if she finally realized he was nothing compared to her? What if she realized she could do so much better? God, he was so selfish.

\----

Big Red couldn’t shake the feeling for the rest of the week. By Friday, he knew his friends could tell something was up and he silently cursed their emotional intelligence. Rather than face the masses, he avoided them, offering excuse after excuse and increasing his guilt levels exponentially. Even when he was forced to be in their presence, he fell silent. If he had been talking he knew Ricky would give him his signature exasperated look no matter what he said. And the longer he could prolong Ashlyn realizing he was an idiot, the better.

“Big Red, can you come see me after class?” _Shit._ What did he do now? The bell rang and he wandered up to his biology teacher’s desk. Of course this would happen in the one class he shared with Ashlyn (by the way, a sophomore taking a junior bio class, super impressive). She paused at the door, glancing back at him expectantly. He tried to just wave her off but she stayed put. Big Red lowered his voice as he spoke to his teacher.

“What’s up?”

“I need you to get this test signed by your parents. You’re at risk for failing the class,” Mrs. Fernandez looked at him sympathetically. The F circled in the corner felt menacingly large.

“Okay.” 

“Red, you know doing the advanced track is optional, right? Just because your friends are here doesn’t mean you have to take it. In fact, being in the same class as your friends is not worth the failing grade. It’s not too late to drop down to the regular college prep class for this semester.”

“Right.”

“Talk to your parents about it and see what they think. I’d honestly recommend dropping down but it’s ultimately up to you. Just let me know by next week, okay? Have a good weekend.”

Well, this sucked. Big Red grabbed the test and folded it in half, not wanting to face his results longer than he had to. “Have a good weekend.”

He turned toward the door and sighed, thinking Ashlyn must have heard at least a little bit of the conversation. He stuffed the test in his bag, noticing it ended up right next to his English essay. A perfect reminder of his inadequacy.

“Everything okay?” She asked as they entered the hall, hand slipping into his.

“Yeah, why would you even ask that?” He didn’t mean for it to sound so aggressive, Ash was clearly taken aback. “Sorry, I didn’t mean for it to come out like that.”

“That’s fine. Do you want to talk about what’s bothering you?” 

He sighed. “Honestly, I really don’t.”

“Okay...?” 

There went all his attempts to seem normal. “Sorry, Ash. I’ll just see you later or something, okay?” He pulled his arm away and kept his head down, dodging the people in the hall, trying to become invisible.

\----

Unbeknown to Big Red, Ashlyn went to the cast-only rehearsal feeling more determined than ever to figure out what was going on. She made a beeline for Ricky.

“What’s going on with Big Red?” she demanded. Her boyfriend’s best friend glanced around before pulling her off to the side.

“You’ve noticed too?” 

She nodded. Of course she noticed. He’s been off all week, cutting Facetime calls short and avoiding her every move. At first she thought he was mad at her, but yesterday she noticed he was doing the same thing to Ricky. “What’s going on, Ricky?”

“I don’t know. He won’t say anything. I’ve asked a bunch of times. He’s probably sick of me asking.”

“Well, when did you first notice something was off?”

“Monday, probably? But I only have a couple classes with him on Monday. He seemed fine until lunch.”

“Hey, guys! What are you talking about?” Nini walked up to them, hesitating as soon as she saw their expressions. “What’s going on?”

“We’re worried about Red,” Ricky told her in a hushed tone.

“Ricky!” Ashlyn exclaimed.

“What?”

“If something is actually wrong, we probably shouldn’t be broadcasting it!”

“Come on, it’s Nini. She has classes with him, too!” He turned to his girlfriend. “Have you noticed anything? We think it started Monday.”

“He seemed fine during first period. But he did look kind of sad at lunch? Maybe something happened in between?” Nini thought aloud. “But I think I saw him in the hall after second period too and he was laughing a lot. So maybe it was third period? I don’t know, guys. It’s hard to think back that far... Isn’t third period when you guys have English?” Ricky ran his hand through his hair.

“Yeah, it is…”

Ashlyn let out a small gasp, “Didn’t you get your essays back on Monday? He was freaking out about it last week. But he said he did fine? Why would he lie about that?”

Ricky shrugged, “We don’t really talk about school.”

“Mrs. Fernandez asked to speak to him after class today. I couldn’t hear what they were talking about. Could this be about his grades?”

“Nah, it couldn’t be. Red does fine in school!” Ricky laughed. Nini tugged on his arm.

“Babe, I’ve never heard Red ever mention his grades.”

“Oh.” The three looked at each other in silence, each trying to figure out what to do next.

\----

Red stared at his biology test, now signed by his mom. It was the worst conversation he ever had to sit through. His parents agreed with Mrs. Fernandez, he should probably drop down to the regular level, much to his embarrassment. And there goes his one class with Ashlyn. He hardly ever sees her these days with all her clubs and study groups. He knew it was partly his fault because he had been avoiding her for the last week. But at least he could actually see her in class every day. Now what would they do? What would he tell her? He couldn’t just _not_ tell her and wait for her to realize he stopped showing up to class, right?

The doorbell rang. Big Red looked through the peephole and saw Ricky, Ashlyn, and Nini. Confused, he opened the door.

“Hey, guys…”

“Hey, man. Can we talk?” Ricky didn’t wait for a response, instead pushing past him and leading the group to Red’s basement. Red trailed after them. 

“Sit down, Red.” Nini gestured to the edge of his bed. He cautiously followed her instructions. The three stood in front of him.

“What, is this some sort of intervention?” he joked.

“I guess you could call it that,” Ricky shrugged.

“No. We’re just worried about you,” Ashlyn finally spoke.

“Worried? Why?”

“Seriously, dude? You think we haven’t noticed you’ve been totally checked out lately? And avoiding us? You haven’t sent me a meme in like five days.” Red mumbled incoherently in response. “What was that?”

“I said,” he sighed, “that I was hoping you hadn’t noticed.”

“Of course we noticed, Big Red! We care about you!” Nini explained, “Though really Ashlyn put this little thing together. We have our theories. But, come on, Red, talk to us?” Big Red stared at the three of them skeptically. They’d find out eventually. And they were right, they were his friends. So they wouldn’t judge him, right?

“I’m failing biology. I have to switch classes,” he finally admitted. “And I got a D on my English essay.”

“Oh, that’s it?” Ricky asked. Nini smacked his arm. Big Red rolled his eyes.

“What do you mean ‘that’s it’? I’m an idiot, Ricky.” He took a deep breath. “Do you have any idea how humiliating it is? You think I don’t know what everyone thinks of me?”

“Red, you’re not an idiot. And we don’t think you are, either,” Ashlyn said calmly, kneeling in front of him. Ricky took a seat on the bed. Red shook his head.

“Oh yeah?” He went on, unable to stop himself. “Everyone laughed when I read the stage directions at rehearsal! Remember that? They all think I’m so dumb. And now they’re right! I can’t pass a bio test. I’m _barely_ passing English. You guys do it all so effortlessly. I’m gonna end up stuck in Salt Lake until I die, while you all go off and have amazing lives. I wish I wasn’t so stupid.” He slouched over, rubbing his hands over his face. Ricky frowned.

“You’re not stupid. You just learn differently than we do. You always have, remember? You figured out the tech board for High School Musical in one show, just by watching Mr. Mazarra. And you don’t even need the tutorial for any video games we start, you just pick it up. Back in elementary school, you figured the rubik's cube out before anyone else in our grade, remember?”

“And you’re a great addition to the robotics club,” Ashlyn piped up. “You just go for it. The rest of us are stuck trying to follow the books.”

“And besides all that proof that you’re actually really smart. You’re also a really good person and a great friend. And doesn’t that matter a little bit more?” Nini asked, smiling. Big Red shrugged.

“It does matter more, Red. You’re always taking care of us. Everyone looks up to you, how kind and thoughtful you are. I know for a fact that they don’t think you’re stupid. Me, especially. You get me, remember?” Red smiled as Ashlyn quoted the opening night card he wrote her.

Ricky nodded in agreement. “You’ve always been there for me. You’re my best friend. I’m sorry, man, that I wasn’t here for you about this. But hey, you know what? We can all help you pick your grades up! We can study together or we can proofread your papers? Teach you in the way that you learn best?”

“You’d do that?” Big Red was shocked.

“Of course, we would,” Ashlyn reassured him. “Why would you ever think differently?”

“I don’t know. I guess a part of me thought you’d all realize you could do so much better.”

“Jokes on you. There’s no one better.” Ash smiled.

“I have to drop down from advanced biology. That means we won’t see each other as much.”

“That’s okay, we can figure it out.”

“But-”

“We’ll figure it out, Red,” she insisted. Big Red let out a sigh of relief, expelling every insecurity and negative thought he had that week. He was lucky his friends were so great. And his girlfriend knew exactly what he needed to feel better. He really loved her. He’d have to tell her that eventually. And judging by the encouraging smile on her face right now, she just might feel the same way.

**Author's Note:**

> let's be real, Ricky is the type of person who never studies and still does well


End file.
